How long did it take to start training after cdl school?

The problem is at many times, over-booking of new recruits. When you start pre-applying, many times you get what is called a "pre-hire letter"

THIS DOES NOT MEAN that you are actually hired, as it is a long process. To get a better answer, you really ought to call the individual companies that pre-hire you, and from there you really have to be nice and say you graduate on such and such a day, but that does them no good, as you may still not have your CDL yet. Graduation day and actually having that CDL in YOUR HAND are at the very least, 2 different days.

SO what I'd suggest is, get the pre-apps out there, get the pre-hire letters (some will NOT pre-hire you) then when you get your ACTUAL CDL in your hand, call them and tell them you want to start working right now.

Let them know (again in a nice way) you re ever so willing to start right away, but you NEED all your ducks in a row, first.

 

When I was going to school, I already had a driving job driving a box truck. In '09 the company went bankrupt and closed.

I found a smaller sized company that viewed my box truck driving as experience, and they put me to work within the next few days after my old company closed. I was in a 379exhd almost from day one without a trainer.

 

Really it's up to you. If you need work bad enough you can be in a truck tomorrow morning. That's what I love about having a cdl. Once you get a few years experience under your belt, there's no limit to what you can do.

 

Understand this: from the time you quit your job to the time where you can actually start sending real money to the house will be a couple months. Taking a break between school and training only adds to that. If you are the breadwinner of your family, you should know that you could go bust long before regular income starts rolling back in.

If I were you, I would get done with training and get an assigned truck first.

 

I got my license as the financial collapse was happening in 2008. I paid for it myself since companies around here didn't (and most still don't) sponsor people to get the license. Many of companies that CDL schools use for internships around here do not actually hire their interns, as they require 2 years of experience. I'm also a woman, and in 2008 women made up less than 3% of the driver pool in Canada.

I did, however, have almost a decade of military experience as an officer, a university degree and an proficient in more than 1 language. No criminal record, clean abstract, mechanically inclined. None of that helped.

I applied for nearly 300 jobs and it took 4 months to find a company that would take a chance on a newbie out of school. There were nearly 300 companies looking for someone, just not a new driver.

Don't assume the offers will pour in. The school I went to stopped answering my calls the day I finished the class.

 

It's depends if they have an orientation.

My first (only) job offer as a newbie, the phone rang Tuesday. I accepted their offer that day (I had already sent abstract, resume, police check when I applied) they wanted me to hitch a ride with another driver to their yard on Monday am. Spent all day Monday getting up there and signed some paperwork (liability waivers) and jumped in my trainers truck on a snowy, dark February night to drive to NJ for Tues morning.

There was no orientations at that time, I did 2 weeks with a trainer and spent a night in a hotel doing all the paperwork for a regular employee the day I got my own truck. Did a road test the next morning and I was flying solo later that afternoon.

 

Location is everything in this industry. With the U.S., you'll struggle to find a decent job on the west coast (California, Oregon and Washington). However, areas like Indianapolis, Chicago and Memphis are literally screaming for drivers.